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Study to look at helping students, saving money by school consolidation

By Carly O'Keefe

UNION COUNTY, IL (KFVS) – A local business man wants to study the possibility of consolidating four Union County school districts.

Bill Cunningham, owner of Cunningham Electronics says he'll pay to fund a feasibility study to learn whether consolidating school districts #81 (Anna Jonesboro High School), #37 (Anna Elementary), #43 (Jonesboro Elementary) and #16 (Lick Creek Elementary) will pay off for students and tax payers.

John Bigler, a spokesman for Cunningham says the study could cost anywhere from $7,500 to $15,000, money he says schools just don't have in this economy.

The study will examine what efficiencies and financial savings could be attained by consolidating all four districts into one, and how students could learn better through a unified curriculum.

Anna Jonesboro High School Superintendent James Woodward thinks it's a good idea as there are too many redundancies between the districts which are no more than 15 miles apart.

"We have four superintendents, four transportation directors, four book keepers," said Woodward. "You put all your human resources together, payroll, hiring, book keeping, that's all in the same place in one unit district."

Meanwhile the students would remain in each existing elementary school building, but each building would have a principal who reports to the unit superintendent and school board, instead of the current system with a superintendent and school board in charge of each school building.

Plus, Woodward says, a unified curriculum would help students see a much smoother transition to high school.

"If they all had the same curriculum, the same text books, and you had a curriculum director all the way from Kindergarten all the way through graduation from high school, I think there's a lot of benefit for our kids," Woodward said.

At least three of the four school boards must approve the study before research can begin. Even once the study is completed, consolidation won't move forward until it's put to voters in a referendum; which wouldn't happen before spring 2012.